Why You're Thinking About Your Social Media Marketing All Wrong

The New York Stock Exchange welcomes Wyndham Destinations. Photo Courtesy of Wyndham Destinations.

Every other week there seems to be a new marketing revolution. Search engine optimization. Social media. Inbound. Automation. Targeting. Whatever the latest high-tech trend, the basic storyline is always the same. If you don’t master the newest platform, methodology, technology, or system, you and your company are doomed to obsolesce, bankruptcy, and despair.

It’s a bit nerve-wracking.

However, while the tools of marketing may be evolving at a breakneck pace, the fundamental principles of human motivation remain remarkably consistent. As such, true marketing masters focus on these first before deciding what technology to apply.

Noah Brodsky, the chief brand officer of Wyndham Destinations, falls into this category. His approach to dismantling years of negative preconceived notions about a legacy industry serves as a template worth modeling for anyone trying to get the word out about their product or service in a rapidly changing environment.

A New Model For A New Brand

This past year Wyndham Worldwide spun off its subsidiaries into two separate companies—Wyndham Hotel Group and Wyndham Destinations. Noah Brodsky was tasked with marketing the offerings of the latter, which would be entirely focused on timeshare properties.

He knew it wouldn’t be easy. In the public imagination, timeshares often evoke images of aggressive salespeople with overly broad grins trying to pressure you into an annoying sales spiel. But Brodsky, who has wanted to go into the hospitality business since he was four years old, saw timeshares differently. In his view, they were effective vehicles for delivering the excitement and pleasure of a wonderful vacation.

Brodsky also knew that the features of the Wyndham program provided a lot more flexibility as to when you could travel and where you could stay than traditional timeshares. But getting people to see this required making sure they would open their ears and their minds.

He and his team decided the best way to make that happen would be to give them something that had the underlying principles of the brand baked right into it. “Take the New York location, for instance,” he explains, “It would normally cost you two to three thousand dollars to stay in one of the units for a week. But with our program, you have it for the rest of your life. So to get that across, it makes sense to give a gift that kicks off a conversation about value.”

To this end, Wyndham gives prospects a free offer that they would find truly useful and meaningful, such as Cirque du Soleil tickets or a stay in one of their properties. All they have to do in return is to agree to take a brief educational tour.

Brodsky is happy to do this because he knows how much both his prospects and his company will get out of it. “A lot of couples go home,” he says, “and say to each other, ‘What just happened? We went on a timeshare tour and loved it.’”

How To Apply These Lessons

What makes Noah Brodsky’s approach to marketing so effective is that Wyndham’s gifts gather meaningful information about their prospects at the same time they build enthusiasm for the brand. In other words, if someone says yes to a few free days in a resort, there is a good chance they regularly make time for vacation. As such, Brodsky and his team can rest assured that the person they will be educating has a true interest in and need for what they are selling.

Follow his example. Instead of fixating on whether you should use Instagram or Twitter, podcasts or blogs, SEO or SEM, start by concentrating on the fundamentals. What are your potential customers’ deepest interests and needs? What can you offer them that will uncover those interests and needs while making them happy? How can you educate them?

When you begin there, the tools for making it happen become obvious.

To get a list of the unconventional marketing books that will transform your career, click here.